Forming conductive portions in insulating materials matreials using an ion beam

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9558887-B2
Application number	US-201314408899-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 21, 2013
Priority date	Jun 21, 2012
Publication date	Jan 31, 2017
Grant date	Jan 31, 2017

Abstract

A method of forming a conductive portion in an insulating material. The insulating material includes carbon and at least one other constituent. The method includes exposing the insulating material to ions to preferentially remove the other constituent.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method comprising:
providing an insulating material, wherein the insulating material includes carbon and at least one other constituent; and
forming a conductive portion in the insulating material by exposing the insulating material to ions of a beam to preferentially remove the other constituent.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the other constituent is or includes oxygen.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the insulating material is graphene oxide.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein the conductive portion at least predominantly consists of at least one of graphene or reduced graphene oxide.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the conductive portion is less than about 20 nm across.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the method comprises producing a capacitor, including the forming of the conductive portion in the insulating material.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein the beam has an ion flux substantially in the range of 5 C/m 2 to 30 C/m 2 .

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the ions include one or more of Gallium ions, Phosphorous ions, Arsenic ions or Nitrogen ions.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the ions are Gallium ions.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the exposing includes applying a voltage substantially in the range of 1 keV to 60 keV.

11. The method of claim 1 , wherein the exposing includes applying a voltage of about 30 keV.

12. A device including a conductive portion formed in accordance with claim 1 .

13. The device of claim 12 being a capacitor.

14. The method of claim 1 , wherein the exposing to ions includes operating a focused ion beam.

15. The method of claim 14 , wherein the beam has an ion flux substantially in the range of 5 C/m 2 to 30 C/m 2 .

16. The method of claim 14 , wherein the method comprises producing a capacitor, including the forming of the conductive portion in the insulating material.

17. The method of claim 14 wherein the insulating material is gaphene oxide and the conductive portion at least predominantly consists of at least one of graphene or reduced graphene oxide.

18. The method of claim 14 wherein the ions include one or more of Gallium ions, Phosphorous ions, Arsenic ions or Nitrogen ions.

19. The method of claim 14 wherein the ions are Gallium ions.

20. The method of claim 14 wherein the exposing includes applying a voltage substantially in the range of 1 keV to 60 keV.

21. A device including a conductive portion formed in accordance with claim 14 .

22. The device of claim 21 being a capacitor.

Assignees

• Univ Monash

Inventors

• Majumder Mainak
• Fu Jing
• Lobo Derrek E

Classifications

• H01G4/14 Primary

  Organic dielectrics · CPC title

• B82Y40/00

  Manufacture or treatment of nanostructures · CPC title

• H01B1/24

  the conductive material comprising carbon-silicon compounds, carbon or silicon · CPC title

• B82Y30/00

  Nanotechnology for materials or surface science, e.g. nanocomposites · CPC title

• B32B9/04 Primary

  comprising such {particular} substance as the main or only constituent of a layer, {which is} next to another layer of {the same or of} a {different material (next to a glass layer B32B17/06; layered products with at least two ceramic layers composed mainly of ceramic B32B18/00)} · CPC title